The Shofar

    

 

In Jewish tradition many reasons have been offered for the sounding of the shofar. The ram's horn is identified with the ram which became the substitute sacrifice for Isaac ( Bereshit / Genesis 22:1-19); the giving of the Torah at Sinai was accompanied by the sounding of the shofar (Shemot / exodus 19:20); the proclamation of the  Yobel/ jubilee was heralded by the blast of the shofar (Vayikra/ Leviticus 24:9-11); and the commencement of Messianic times is to be announced by the sound of the great shofar ( Isaiah 27:13)


Mishne Torah sefer Zemanim.

Halacha 1

It is a positive commandment from the Torah to hear the sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah, as [Numbers 29:1] states: "It shall be a day of sounding [the ram's horn] for you."
The shofar, which is sounded both on Rosh HaShanah and for the yovel, is a bent ram's horn. All shofarot other than that of a ram are unacceptable.
Even though the sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah [it was derived by our Sages in the following manner]. Concerning the yovel, [Leviticus 25:9] states: "You shall make a proclamation, sounding the shofar... you shall proclaim with the shofar." The oral tradition explains that just as the "sounding" required by the Torah in the yovel requires a shofar, so, too, the "sounding" on Rosh HaShanah requires a shofar.

Commentary Halacha

It is a positive commandment from the Torah - Sefer Hamitzvot (Positive Commandment 170) and Sefer Hachinuch (Mitzvah 405) count this mitzvah as one of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah.
to hear the sounding of the shofar - The mitzvah is not the blowing of the shofar, as might be inferred from the verse, but rather listening to the blowing. The blessing recited before the fulfillment of this mitzvah, praising God for commanding us "to listen to the sounding of the shofar (Chapter 3, Halachah 10)," emphasizes this principle.

                                              

 When the Yom Tov of Rosh HaShanah falls out on Shabbat, the shofar is blown in the Beit

HaMikdash, but not in the Medina [the synagogues in the cities and towns]. (Rosh HaShanah 29b)

R' Avraham of Slonim, the Beis Avraham, explained that all mitzvot exist in the realm of thought and intellect as well as in the realm of active, physical application. The intellectual realm is referred to as the "Mikdash", while the active, physical realm is called "Medina".

When Rosh HaShanah falls out on Shabbat, the shofar is sounded in…an internal fashion…When Rosh HaShanah falls out on Shabbat, the shofar is sounded in the Mikdash, but not in the Medina. We sound the shofar in an internal fashion, but without the actual shofar. The intentions underlying the shofar are realized only in the internal aspect. When Rosh HaShanah falls on Shabbat, the blowing of the shofar is a sublime, spiritual action which must take place in the inner recesses of one's heart, and in the depths of one's soul.

 

 

 But we found out  at the Talmud.

Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 29b

Mishnah: When Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbat, the shofar was sounded in the Temple but not around the country. When the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai decreed that the shofar could be sounded [on Shabbat] any place where there was a court…

Gemara: Our rabbis taught: It once happened that Rosh Hashanah fell on the Sabbath. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to the sons of Beterah, “Let us sound the shofar.” They said to him, “Let us discuss the matter.” He said to them, “Let us first sound the shofar and then discuss the matter.” After they sounded the shofar, they said to him, “Now let us discuss the matter.” He said to them, “The shofar has already been sounded in Yavneh, and one does not undo that which as been done.”

 

                                             

Blow the shofar on the day of new moon... (Psalms 81:4)
In Hebrew, "Tiku ba'chodesh shofar, ba'keseh l'yom Jagaenu", literally "Blow the shofar when the moon is covered", i.e. when the moon is small, on the 1st day of the month. The acrostic of the verse contains the letters tav, beit, shin, beit, which, when rearranged, spell "B'Shabbat" - "on Shabbat". On Shabbat the blowing of the shofar is in a covered, hidden way. One may still reach the deepest levels of the mitzvah of shofar, yet without the actual shofar. They are accomplished in a hidden place; in one's heart and through one's intentions.

Happy is the nation that knows Teruah [the shofar blast], they walk in the light of your countenance, G-d. (Psalms 89:16)

The Zohar (III, 233b) points out that the verse doesn't state, "happy is the nation that hears Teruah", or "happy is the nation that blows "Teruah", but "happy is the nation that knows "Teruah". They know the secret of the Teruah, as it is written, "Shatter (in Hebrew, "Teraim") them with an iron rod". (Psalms 2:9) Teruah is derived from the root "to break" or "shatter", hence the broken notes of the shofar.

The first day of the seventh month shall be a sacred holiday to you when you may not do any mundane labor. It shall be a day of Teruah for you.(Num. 29:1)

The Torah instructs us how to sweeten and break the severity of any judgment pending against us on Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah. ". . .it shall be a day of Teruah for you." When  Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah falls out on Shabbat, a Jew must make it a day of Teruah in its inner dimension. A Jew must shatter his stony heart into pieces until his ego is completely nullified and he can honestly declare, "I, and everything that I possess is for G-d alone".

The Zohar speaks about a watchman who points out each Jew to the heavenly court, "This one did this mitzvah, and this one committed this transgression". But when a Jews appears before G-d with a broken heart, his ego erased and his only desire to do the will of G-d, then there is no "one", no individual who can be accused of any transgression. The severity of the judgment has been sweetened and has nowhere to make itself manifest.

There is a custom called Tashlij of going to a body of water on the afternoon of Yom Teruah and symbolically casting out one's sins.

He will take us back in love; He will cover up our iniquities ,You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19

by Yosef Jaques Aragon.